Larry Ellison Buyer of $173M South Florida Compound

Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle, paid $173 million for a Manalapan estate, setting a record for home sales in Florida, property records indicate and sources confirmed to The Real Deal.

Billionaire Netscape co-founder Jim Clark sold the 16-acre compound. The sale of the former Ziff family estate closed last week, Clark told the Wall Street Journal at the time, declining to disclose the buyer.

Records show a Delaware LLC that shares the address of Ellison’s foundation in Walnut Creek, California purchased the estate. Sources confirmed that Ellison, the world’s 11th richest person, is the buyer of the property. Forbes pegs his net worth at $93.7 billion.

Ellison also paid $80 million for a North Palm Beach teardown last year. In addition, Ellison owns the majority of the Hawaiian island of Lanai. After buying 98 percent of the island in 2012, locals say that his control is pushing out longtime residents, according to a recent Bloomberg profile.

The Palm Beach sale blows past the current record for residential sales in Florida, which was set early last year when Tiger Global Management co-founder and partner Scott Shleifer acquired an oceanfront mansion at 535 North County Road in Palm Beach for $122.7 million.

Clark paid just $94 million for the Manalapan property in March 2021. The Ziff family had owned it for decades, and at one point listed it for $200 million.

Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates brokered both sides of the latest deal. He did not respond to a request for comment.

The more than 30-bedroom compound, with 1,200 feet on the Atlantic Ocean and 1,300 feet along Lake Worth, connects via tunnels, including a furnished tunnel underneath South Ocean Boulevard that features a 15-foot-wide gallery. The property has a 12-bedroom main house, two four-bedroom beachside cottages, a seven-bedroom Mango House, a staff house and recreational amenities, including a swimming pool, golf area, tennis court and half-basketball court.

Last year, Clark sold a separate estate at 120 Jungle Road in Palm Beach for $30.1 million. Clark is worth about $2.8 billion, according to Forbes.